


Thirty-one Nights

by andyandnormski



Series: This Heart of Mine [2]
Category: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Male Antagonist, Original Character(s), Post-Season 2, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, WWC2020, What Comes Next?, What We Create In October Challenge, injury care
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26788126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andyandnormski/pseuds/andyandnormski
Summary: A collection of short fics set in the What Comes Next verse for the What We Create in October Challenge. Spoilers for some scenes.
Relationships: Guillermo de la Cruz/Nandor the Relentless, Laszlo Cravensworth/Nadja
Series: This Heart of Mine [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802827
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	1. Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of the WWC2020 challenge and the first bit in a series of short fics set in the universe for What Comes Next. A lot of these are scrapped scenes I wanted to try to include in the main story but I struggled to find a good place for them. Fair warning, there will be spoilers here and there for some chapters. Enjoy!

Guillermo had to admit it. Infected wounds were an absolute _headache_ to deal with. When he wasn’t catching up on some much needed sleep or staving off boredom with his phone, he was dealing with all of the awkward situations his illness had brought on: needing help getting to and from the bathroom, changing his bandages, changing Nandor’s bandages, the vampires’ attempts at cooking. 

Nandor had insisted that Guillermo stayed in bed after he had found him struggling in the kitchen after Lilith and Corvus’ visit. Guillermo had been left waiting for the inevitable disaster at Nandor’s insistence that he would take care of his meals. And true enough, things had led to some hilarity almost immediately. Nandor had nearly set the kitchen on fire during his attempt at making Kraft mac and cheese. When all was said and done, Nandor and his flaming dish towel had somehow ended up out the back door, on the lawn and dangerously close to the vulva garden, much to Laszlo’s horror. Guillermo had woken up to the smell of smoke, burnt pasta and the combined shrieking of Nandor and Laszlo. Since then, Guillermo had put his foot down and they had reached an agreement. He would cook his own meals under at least one vampire’s supervision until he felt better. 

Now it was three days later. Guillermo was sitting in the fancy room, nursing his second cup of chamomile tea after a later supper. He had come down here after spending the better part of the week cooped up in the blue room. As much as he had longed to leave his old room and upgrade to an actual bedroom, he had quickly grown tired of the bare walls in his new room after spending over four days in bed. His original plan for tonight had been to read until he grew too tired but those plans fell apart as he listened to Laszlo and Colin debate about which washing machine to order. The pair sat across from him on the couch with Colin’s laptop placed between them. Their argument had carried on for nearly twenty minutes and showed no sign of stopping. 

He sighed and shut his book, giving up on getting any reading done. "Look guys, I told you before. I don't care which washer we get. Just please pick one already!”

Laszlo looked up from the laptop, his face illuminated by the blue glow of the screen. “You are the laundry expert, Gizmo. Which one is better? With the basin or without?” 

“No, I’m really not an expert.” Guillermo felt himself wanting to sigh again. “I’ve actually never done Colin’s laundry so he’s capable of dealing with this.”

“But would a basin be practical?”

He could feel a headache building up and if he had to look at a washing machine, it would be too soon. “It’s a built-in sink and probably, with how often you guys get blood spots on clothes. I really don’t care, Laszlo. I just want to read.” 

“Oh, lookie here at this one, Laszlo,” Colin chimed in, turning the laptop towards Laszlo. “It has the built-in sink you like, it loads in the front _and_ the door is completely see through. So you can check on-”

Yeah, that was about all the laundry and washing machine talk Guillermo could take in one evening. Picking up his tea, he tucked his book under his arm and got to his feet to leave. “I’m going upstairs. I’ll let you guys pick one without me.”

“Aww, but we were having so much fun!” Colin called out after him with a tiniest hint of a smirk on his face.

“Speak for yourself,” Guillermo muttered under his breath as he left the fancy room and headed back upstairs. He was about to turn the corner back into the blue room - his bedroom - but paused at the sound of the bathroom sink running, then peered around the doorway. 

Nandor was standing at the sink, already dressed down for the night and rinsing out a washcloth before seating himself at the toilet. He sat perched on the seat and seemed to be attempting to wrap bandages around his hands, flashes of half healed wounds showing in between the stark white cloth. The bandage roll slipped out of Nandor’s hands and onto the floor, leaving Nandor to hiss a soft “Shit” as the bundle rolled across the floor towards Guillermo, stopping just outside the door. Nandor blinked at the floor a few times before flicking his eyes up to look at Guillermo, seemingly at a momentary loss for words.

Guillermo bent down and picked up the now unclean bandage roll. “Here, let me help you with that.”

“I...I can manage and you should be resting.” 

“I know but I’m helping you anyway.” He set his tea and book down on the sink countertop, picking up clean bandages and turning to Nandor. “Can I see your hands?” 

There was a moment of hesitation, a small debate going on behind Nandor’s eyes before he gave in and held a hand out. Guillermo took it within his own and gently went about wrapping the bandages around Nandor’s palms, working in silence. The wounds looked notably better. Any trace of silver from the dagger had long since been washed out, leaving the cuts to heal on their own, although Guillermo now knew that any wound caused by silver took twice as long to heal. 

As Guillermo worked, Nandor spent the time staring at the floor, clearly lost in thought as he pursed his lips together. The somewhat awkward silence hung in the air until Nandor broke it with a question as Guillermo began wrapping his other hand.

“You are not my familiar anymore?” Nandor looked up from the floor at Guillermo, a need for an answer shining his eyes. 

The question had been spoken so softly Guillermo had nearly missed it. It had been one they had both been avoiding. A week had passed since the Vampiric Council had tried to execute the whole household, a week since Guillermo had fought the council guards and ended up injured. They had danced around the subject of Guillermo’s place in the house ever since that night, neither one of them wanting to bring it up and shatter the relative peace in the house apart from the occasional rant about Lilith from Nadja. Guillermo had known they were going to have to talk about it sooner or later. He had been dreading the moment where he would have to give Nandor his answer and it seemed Nandor had chosen now to finally ask.

“No, I’m not. I don’t think I can be,” Guillermo answered honestly, watching Nandor’s hopeful expression plummet into one he couldn’t quite read. Even still, Guillermo kept going. Now that he was talking, he needed to put words to how he had been feeling. He carefully chose his words and kept an eye on Nandor’s reaction. “Too many things have changed. I’ll stay and help out but I’m not picking up after you guys like I used to. I can’t watch out for assassins and pretend like I can keep up the house at the same time. I tried to before and honestly, it led to a few close calls. I can’t do both anymore so...you guys are gonna have to help me out.” He finished wrapping Nandor’s hand and tied off the bandage, waiting and hoping Nandor didn’t take this too badly. Guillermo watched Nandor open and close his mouth a few times, stuttering a few times as he fumbled over his words. 

“I- Guillermo, you...so you are not leaving then? You _are_ staying?” Nandor was following every move Guillermo made with his eyes, tracking him as he tossed the dirtied bandages into the trash and collected his tea and book. Was Nandor still that concerned Guillermo would leave? What did he think he was going to do, leave them if things got too hard? 

“Yes, I am.” He looked Nandor in the eyes, doing his best to get it across to him that he meant what he was saying. “I wasn’t lying when I said it at the hotel. I’m not going anywhere with the council after us.”

Nandor nodded slowly and stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles in his pants and breaking eye contact with Guillermo. “Then if you are not my...my familiar anymore, I guess it’s fine you have been using my name.”

“Really?” Guillermo felt the ghost of a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He had been calling Nandor by his name ever since the theatre. Calling him “master” had somehow felt wrong after that night, even more so after they had nearly been cornered in that alley by assassins, but to hear Nandor give his approval felt reassuring. It felt as if they had both reached the same conclusion on their own, that things were different between them.

“Yes,” Nandor nodded again, looking back to Guillermo. His now ex-familiar held back a yawn, shaking his head to clear it. “You should get some rest. You are tired.” 

Guillermo yawned this time. Nandor was right. He could feel himself growing drowsy, probably from being on his second cup of tea for the night. Turning towards the door, he stopped and looked back at Nandor. “You’ll be fine the rest of the night?”

“We will wake you if anything happens,” Nandor reassured him. “You are still ill. Go and rest.”

“Alright,” Guillermo widely yawned and turned to leave. “Well, goodnight, Nandor.”

What Guillermo didn’t hear as he walked down the hall to his new bedroom, clutching his book and tea in hand, was the soft response from Nandor, far too quiet for any human to hear.

“Goodnight, Guillermo.”


	2. Superb Owl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A suspicious owl visits the yard one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 prompt: superb owl

The following evening found Guillermo lounging in the fancy room again, although this time he was alone, enjoying the relative peace and quiet while it lasted. He was waiting for Lilith to arrive. She was out running errands for the Satchel Serafina and had offered to swing by to drop off a few things for him while she was out. 

His phone dinged and the notification from Lilith lit up the screen. Pocketing his phone, he stood up from the couch and headed for the front door, throwing it open to be greeted with the sight of Lilith pulling a large box out of her car’s backseat. For some reason, it was still mildly funny to Guillermo that a centuries old witch like Lilith owned a modern car. 

“Hi Lilith,” Guillermo called out, shrugging his coat on and tossing his scarf around his neck as he walked across the lawn towards the car parked in the street. It was a cold night, just enough to reach freezing, and a gentle snow fell from the sky, leaving a light dusting of it to cover the ground. 

“Guillermo! How are you feeling, dear?” Lilith met him with a smile, shifting the heavy looking box in her arms with the words “Crock-Pot” running across the side. 

“Much better, thanks. And tell Corvus I said thank you. Those antibiotics really did the trick.” 

“I’ll do that but you can let him know again when you see him next week. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. Anyway, I have the crock-pot and keurig you wanted, as promised.” She lightly tapped the side of the box for emphasis. 

Guillermo was surprised she had gotten them so quickly. He had remembered mentioning it during her last visit but didn’t think she would actually buy it so soon. “You really didn’t have to. I could have ordered-” He was quickly cut off by Lilith. 

“Ah ah ah, no need for that. I was happy to get it and you were already busy. How did the washer and dryer shopping go, by the way? And the fridge?” Lilith added at the end, near chuckling at the exasperated look from Guillermo that said it all. “That bad, huh?”

“Don’t remind me but it’s done and over with now.” Guillermo sighed and gestured to the box with a hand. “Do you need help?”

Lilith quickly shook her head, beginning the walk back up to the house, Guillermo walking beside her. “No, I’ve got it. You’re still healing.” 

When they reached the front steps, the door opened again. Laszlo and Nandor both rushed through it, clearly expecting assassins to be on their front lawn and not Lilith, judging from the touch of panic on their faces. It faded upon seeing Lilith and Guillermo coming up the steps together, although Nandor’s hand didn’t leave the sword that had hung from his belt every day since the alley attack. 

“Oh, hello Lilith,” Laszlo uneasily greeted her with very little hostility in his voice. He glanced behind himself as if to check for Nadja. The tension between the three of them was still running high, most of it staying between Lilith and Nadja with Laszlo seemingly alright with Lilith’s occasional presence over the last week. From what Guillermo understood, the trio’s falling out had reached its height when Lilith had seduced Laszlo into sleeping with her but what happened before then, Guillermo had next to no idea. The couple of times he had tried to ask what had happened Laszlo would quickly change the subject and Nadja would leave the room altogether, muttering under her breath about Guillermo becoming too comfortable around witches. And of course, Nandor and Colin were left just as lost as he was. All Guillermo knew was Nadja and Lilith had begun bickering with one another until Laszlo had been dragged into their quarrel, ending their friendship with Lilith. 

“What are you doing here?” Laszlo asked her.

“I’m only dropping a few things off for Guillermo, then I’ll be out of your hair.” She received a brief nod from Laszlo and she set the box down on the steps, turning and heading back to the car with Guillermo. 

Behind them, Guillermo could hear the box being dragged inside, then the crunching sound of snow as Laszlo and Nandor followed them out onto the lawn. Lilith was pulling the keurig box out of the backseat when Nandor suddenly made a soft cooing, the same sound he seemed to reserve for animals. Guillermo looked back to see Nandor tiptoeing up to the fence, looking up into a tree where a barely visible owl sat. 

The owl was unusual looking, dark charcoal gray and russet colored feathers covering its body and a pair of black eyes set in a heart-shaped ring of feathers around its face. It sat there, perched on a low hanging branch in Shaun’s yard, and it was intently looking at Nandor, watching him come right up to the fence. The pitch black eyes blinked at Nandor and the owl shuffled to the end of the branch as it softly chirped at the vampire.

“Hello, Mr. Owl!” Nandor gleefully cooed at the bird. “You’re very handsome! Are you the superb owl?” 

The owl hooted again but didn’t come any closer, staying right here it was. Nandor held a hand out to the owl, wiggling his fingers in an effort to get it to come closer. 

“Hey Nandor,” Lilith called out to him, taking notice of the owl. “Maybe you shouldn’t-”

Nandor wasn’t paying attention to Lilith. He kept his hand held out to the owl, still trying to coax it forward. “Don’t be afraid, Mr. Owl. Everything is o-akay. You can come-”

“Nandor, don’t!” Lilith shouted to cut Nandor off before he could finish, rushing out from around the car as she did so. Guillermo was alongside her and they ran across the yard. 

“What?” Nandor questioned, turning around to face them. “Why not? It’s just an owl.”

Guillermo reached them with Laszlo trailing behind. “I think what she means is you don’t know if that’s really an owl. It could be a vampire. Right, Lilith?” He looked from Nandor to Lilith, watching as she raised an arm and gestured at the bird.

“Exactly! Nandor, you can turn into other animals besides a bat. What if the owl up in that tree is a council lackey? You nearly invited it onto the lawn. You can’t invite strangers or even strange animals into the yard, not unless you already know them and know for sure that they aren’t being hypnotized. The wards are useless if you tell every animal you see to come closer!”

Nandor blinked at her, his mouth gaping slightly in realization of what he would have done if Lilith hadn’t stopped him. “Oh...I forgot.” He turned his attention back to the owl. “I’m sorry, Mr. Owl, but Guillermo and Lilith said no.”

Looking back up into the tree, Guillermo was taken aback by the owl. It wasn’t looking at Nandor anymore and was instead focusing on himself and Lilith, giving them a glare as if it was angry. The eyes had narrowed and the feathers running down its back were fluffed up, giving the bird the appearance of a pissed off cat, but its stare felt uncomfortable. It wasn’t flying away like every other bird did in the neighborhood when people came to close. The owl just sat there, perched at the edge of the yard and looking at them with a furious glare that began to feel more and more unsettling with each passing second. Why wasn’t it flying away? Why was it acting like this, like it knew they were talking about it? There was no way an owl could understand what they were saying...could it? Unless it wasn’t really an owl?

Guillermo walked up to the fence, pulling his scarf from where it loosely hung around his coat collar as he went. “Alright. Well, thanks for visiting our yard but you can head out now. Go catch a mouse or something.” 

He had hoped by walking right up to the fence, it would make the owl startle and fly away but the opposite happened. The owl didn’t budge from its perch, only fluffing itself up even more and continuing to stare daggers at Guillermo. He didn’t like this owl one bit anymore. It was a pretty sight at first but now its eyes felt too uncomfortable. 

“Go on, get going! Shoo!” Guillermo held his scarf up and whipped it at the owl, not unlike how he would whip rags at mosquitoes he would find in the house during the summer. He could hear Nandor begin to protest behind him until the owl let out an ear piercing shriek that hurt his ears and he wasn’t alone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see everyone scrambling to cover their ears as the owl screamed like an angry velociraptor. The owl lashed out at Guillermo’s scarf, catching it on a talon and tearing the fabric. 

Torn scarf aside, Guillermo’s actions got the result he wanted. The owl lifted off from the branch and took to the air, swooping down towards Guillermo with another enraged screech before it swerved just outside of the fence and flew down the length of the yard. Guillermo could swear the owl looked back over its shoulder as it flew, shooting him one final seething glare before flying off into the night. That final action was a bit too unnerving and almost human-like for his tastes. Laszlo’s voice broke him from his thoughts and he took his eyes off of the last spot he had seen the owl, turning back to the others.

“Gizmo, there are things you can find to deter birds like hawks and owls, right?”

“Yeah.” Guillermo swallowed thickly. The peace of his night had effectively been ruined by the appearance of this more than creepy owl. “Yeah, there are. Why do you ask?” In truth, he already knew what Laszlo’s answer would be but he went through the motion of asking anyway.

“Because that owl creeped me the fuck out.” Laszlo looked just as unnerved as Guillermo felt and he was also watching the spot where the owl had vanished into the night. “I don’t know about the rest of you but I have never seen a barn owl in the city before.”

“Neither have I. That felt off,” Lilith added, stooping down to pick up Guillermo’s shredded scarf. “It ruined your scarf too, Guillermo.” 

But Guillermo wasn’t paying attention, only vaguely listening to them as he looked back out onto the street. The owl was gone yet he still felt uneasy. Not only would spend tomorrow looking up ways to scare off owls but he was going to order security cameras for the house. Something about that owl felt wrong and he wanted to catch it on camera if any other suspicious things happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!


End file.
